Mario Kart
by Anna Lane
Summary: Everyone's favorite Vampire Diaries characters partake in a friendly game of Mario Kart. Well, mostly friendly. Alaric, Tyler, Bonnie, Jeremy, Stefan, Matt, Caroline. Teeny, tiny bit of Delena


**A/N: Not sure on the semantics of Mario Kart Wii, so if there are mistakes I apologize. I've only played when I'm at others' houses, so I'm far from an expert. I know I'm using the scoring and player number from the DS version, so yikes. Hope that doesn't bother anyone. Originally, Stefan wasn't supposed to be in it, but then I felt guilty for not including him, so that's why there wasn't an even, convenient eight. Also, Bonnie wasn't supposed to have such a big part, but the only way I could get started on this idea was by using her perspective. Sorry for the long note!**

"Seriously?" Bonnie asked as she entered the room. "Klaus could attack at any moment and you're playing _Mario Kart_?" She hated the nagging tone of her voice as she surveyed her friends.

Somehow they'd managed to fit four people on a couch that could hardly seat three. Caroline, Stefan, Elena, and Damon all looked a little worse for elbow room. Alaric sat on the arm of the couch next to Damon and Tyler and Jeremy sat on the floor, leaning against the couch and various legs. They all held the little white remotes for the Wii, except Alaric. There was one extra lying next to Jeremy.

And they were playing _Mario Kart _when they could all die at any second! No, Bonnie did not like the tone of her own voice, but she liked her friend's nonchalant behavior even less.

Jeremy winced and looked up at her as he took it upon himself to be the one to calm her down. "Bonnie, we've been waiting for hours. We need something to do to pass the time."

He smiled in a way that Bonnie imagined he must think to be charming. It wasn't. She glared at him.

"Why don't you have a seat, Bonnie?" Damon patted his lap and gave her a smirk. "I'll let you be Wario."

Bonnie almost used her powers to choke Damon. How dare he invite her to sit on his lap and let her play some villain? But she knew she'd need all her strength later and she'd regret wasting it on Damon, as tempting as it sounded. "We are in serious danger. Is this what your lives mean to you?" She shook her head and turned to go.

"Bonnie, wait!" Elena called out as she jumped off the couch.

Bonnie grit her teeth, but turned to face her best friend.

Elena looked at her with sad eyes. "What if this is the last night that we're all together? Do you really want to spend it scared, waiting for Klaus?" She looked down sadly.

Bonnie knew her friend was thinking about Klaus' threat to take her away to use her blood for his hybrids. She was thinking about never seeing her friends again. Bonnie couldn't blame her for wanting one last good memory. "Elena, stop talking like that." Bonnie put her hand on Elena's shoulder. "We should be preparing."  
"How, Bonnie?" There was enough force in Elena's usually meek voice to shock Bonnie. "By doing push-ups? I'm pretty sure none of us are going to get any stronger or prepared in the hours or minutes or one night that we may have left." Her voice grew softer. "Please, Bonnie."

Elena took her hand and Bonnie let her guide her to the couch. Elena looked at Damon expectantly. He raised his eyebrows.

Stefan sighed and got up. He gestured gallantly to his small slice of the couch. "Here Bonnie, have my seat." He gave his brother a pointed look just before he sat on the vacant arm next to Caroline.

Bonnie glared at Damon and sat down. Elena sat in between them, weary of the hatred they always seemed to harbor for each other.

"What a gentlemen." Damon said, smirking.

Jeremy handed Bonnie her remote.

She took it and seemed to sigh in defeat. "So, how are eight people going to play this, anyway?"

Jeremy smiled. "Easy, we just got the TVs and Wii's from Damon and Stefan's rooms and set them up next to each other."

Bonnie looked up and noticed for the first time the two identical TV's set up next to each other. It seemed Damon and Stefan had the same taste in television as they had in women. "You have separate Wii's?" She asked with mildly disgusted disbelief.

Damon spoke up. "Contrary to what history would have you believe, Glinda, we don't actually _like _to share."

Bonnie really wished he hadn't said anything. Her eye twitched at the good witch reference. Elena shifted uncomfortably next to her.

Figuring she'd change the subject, Bonnie asked Alaric why he wasn't playing.

"I am." He said. "I'm on Tyler's team. We're switching off." He gave her a weak smile and Bonnie could tell he was hung over. She didn't bother to ask how or why they were on a team together, but he told her anyway. "I'm not sure what this is. I'll learn from watching Tyler play."

Damon rolled his eyes. "It's just a race game, Ric."

He chose start from the menu and Bonnie saw that the left screen was beginning. He was player one. Typical.

No one knew which screen they were on until they moved their remotes experimentally. Stefan discovered he was player one for the right hand screen. Bonnie, Jeremy, and Caroline would be racing on that screen, as well. The others had Damon's and Bonnie didn't envy them that.

Caroline watched, interested, as Stefan typed in some long friend code in order to race against the others. She found it strange that even though these brothers seemed so estranged, Stefan still knew his brother's friend code by heart.

Damon spoke softly to Elena, but everyone heard. "I'll pick an easy course for the first one, okay?"

Elena smiled up at him sweetly and nodded. She could feel the heat from his body where they sat squished close together on the couch. "I like the snow mountain one."

Damon nodded intently and it made Elena's stomach kind of fluttery when he looked at her like that. Like he wanted to memorize everything about her even if it was just something stupid like which race course she preferred.

Bonnie scoffed in disgust and rolled her eyes in the opposite direction. She didn't get why Elena couldn't see what a dick he really was.

When the time came to choose their characters, Elena snatched up Yoshi before the others could even scroll over him. Collective groans came from Matt, Stefan, and Jeremy. Elena laughed evilly, knowing it was by far the best character.

Tyler was next. He quick selected his favorite before his friends could choose that character. He looked around and saw their bewildered looks aimed at him.

All except Matt. He'd played with Tyler before. He was shaking his head and laughing. "Dude, that's so gay."

Tyler smiled contentedly as he regarded the screen. "I'm comfortable with my sexuality."

"I don't understand. That wasn't even a last choice pick. You could have any other character." Matt smiled as he said it and silently chose Donkey Kong.

Alaric looked at his partner like he'd regretted the decision to pair up. "I'm new to this game and even I know no one picks that one."

"Birdo is completely respectable." Tyler defended the pink creature.

"But we all know that mouth wasn't made for racing." Jeremy joked.

"That is so wrong." But Caroline couldn't help but smile as she said it. They noticed she'd picked Peach. No one was surprised.

"Too bad Race Car Barbie isn't an option." Damon said sarcastically. He picked Bowser, the bruiser. He preferred a little more muscle when he played.

"Leave it to Damon to pick the biggest asshole," Caroline said angrily.

"Now, now children." Stefan said lightly. He usually liked Yoshi, but Mario wasn't a bad second best. He liked that they were both Italian.

With Yoshi, Bowser, and Mario gone, Jeremy didn't have a lot of options. "I guess that leaves me with Toad." Jeremy said easily. "That's okay. I like mushrooms."

Elena glared at her little brother, fully aware of the druggie meaning behind his words. Her irritation only grew when she realized he was probably smirking on the floor in front of her. She kicked him with the tip of her heels.

Caroline turned to Bonnie. "You should be Daisy. Then we can be friends."

"We're racing together, Caroline." Bonnie said, trying to point out the ridiculousness of 'being friends.'

"Still…" She whined.

Bonnie complied. She didn't know what other characters there were, anyway.

The first race began.

None of them had ever been in a Mario Kart race quite like it. Since there were no computers, it was like everyone was facing off for 1st in incredibly close range with each other.

"I swear to God, Damon!" Bonnie yelled as she slammed into a snowman. He always waited until he was right behind her to use his items. She just knew it. This time it was a red shell. She was this close to whipping the controller at his head. She heard him laugh and growled.

Stefan remained in first for a good portion of the race, switching off with Tyler. They silently battled each other as their characters shouted in ridiculous cartoon voices at each other.

Matt got a mushroom and DK sped forward, slamming into Birdo and sending Tyler's character flying.

Tyler then missed the cutoff turn into the tunnel as DK slammed him off path and lost his place in close second. Matt lost speed as the mushroom faded and his heavy cart held him back.

Toad came whipping past Birdo and Donkey Kong, swerving violently and cheering as he passed them. Jeremy laughed.

Just then lightning struck and shrunk everyone's car. Caroline was the only one not to groan and as she swerved through the slow, miniature cars, she smiled delightedly. It was now the end of the 2nd lap and so far all Peach had done was get in everyone's way. She left bananas everywhere, got Bullet Bill three times, had clouded their vision, and now this.

Elena had been almost invisible the entire race, not interacting much with the others. Suddenly, she flew from a shortcut in the mountain and landed right behind Stefan. He frowned when he saw her appear behind him on the screen.

She trailed Stefan until she got a speed boost and swerved in front of him. Yoshi took the lead.

Bowser appeared behind her. The only way his slow car could have appeared behind her would be if he knew the shortcut, too.

Elena smiled. Somehow, it didn't surprise her that Damon knew the shortcuts. He slammed into Yoshi and Elena winched as her car bounced off the side of the mountain. Good thing she had inner positioning as they went around the edge of the mountain.

Elena was struck by an evil idea. She grabbed the inside of Damon's thigh and squeezed. Damon was so surprised that he accidentally tilted the remote too much on the curve. Bowser went flying off the mountain. She glanced at his portion of the screen to see him slowly being airlifted back into place as the others passed him quickly. Her smile was so strong that it hurt.

Elena ended up getting first. Everyone was complaining that she'd come from nowhere and she was loving it. She couldn't help but glance at Damon.

He was giving her an indecipherable look. "You cheated."

"It's not my fault if you have poor concentration." She said innocently.

His eyes narrowed. "I didn't know you were so competitive."

"I was in cheerleading, remember?" She reminded him.

"Right," Damon scoffed. "'Cause that's so competitive."

"It _is._" Caroline piped in, insulted.

"Whatever." Damon muttered, looking at the score.

1st Yoshi

2nd Mario

3rd Birdo

4th Donkey Kong

5th Bowser

6th Daisy

7th Peach

8th Toad

The second game the tables turned. Damon was relentless as he tickled Elena throughout the race. She couldn't help but giggle as he attacked her stomach. She'd tried to fend him off with one hand and race with the other, but it hadn't worked so well. She fell off the giant mushroom each time she'd passed it.

Stefan tried the same with Caroline on the last lap. It worked at first and he was able to pass her, but then she'd shoved him off the couch arm and he'd fallen hard. He got up with vamp speed and got back into the race, but it was too late. He'd lost positioning and Matt had hit him with three green shells.

"That shouldn't even be possible!" Stefan cried in disbelief.

"I have good aim." Matt said smugly.

Birdo and Toad were duking it out the entire race. One couldn't pass the other without the other making a comeback. They held each other back, essentially.

Bonnie was having trouble navigating the course through the thick colorful leaves. "What is this? Autumn dream course? Aargh!" She turned too sharply and too late once more.

Damon surveyed the final score with a pleased air.

Caroline cheered with happiness at securing second.

1st Bowser

2nd Peach

3rd Donkey Kong

4th Mario

5th Birdo

6th Daisy

7th Toad

8th Yoshi

Alaric tag teamed in for the last two races. The first thing he did was change characters.

"Dry Bones? Real cheery, Ric." Damon said.

Alaric flipped Damon off and selected a light car.

The third race, through mines and tracks, turned out strangely. Everyone conveniently developed headaches. That is, until Bonnie crossed the finish line in first. They all glared at her and she shrugged. "What?" She asked, her face blank. "It was my turn to win, anyway."

Elena frowned. She knew a really good shortcut to that one. She could have gotten first if she'd just been allowed to race with a brain that wasn't in agonizing pain. As it was, she should've gotten second, but Mario got a lucky hit in with a blue shell just before Yoshi could get to the finish line.

Alaric was really getting into it. He and Damon were fighting for fourth behind Elena. It was starting to irritate her. The green shells and bananas they were throwing at each other sometimes went awry and got her. She threw some green shells behind her for revenge.

"You don't know what to do with all that drift, old man!" Damon shouted, swerving his heavy car into Dry Bones as he shoved his shoulder into Alaric.

Alaric shoved back at Damon. "Ha!" He laughed as he used a mushroom to slam into Bowser and knock him to the side. He slid into fourth and began to mock Damon. "Who's old now? What do you have, like 200 years on me?"

Damon feigned a tortured façade. He pulled out a bottle of whisky.

"Where did that come from?" Elena said. She could smell it as he took a giant swig.

He ignored her and passed the bottle to Ric. Alaric was all too happy to have some. She rolled her eyes. Those two had problems.

Elena looked at the score. "You kind of suck at this game, Jere." She said, surprised. Her brother usually owned at video games. What was it the gamers said? Pwned? Is that what they said? Elena wasn't sure.

He glared at her. "Sorry. It's the 'shrooms."

Elena's face instantly changed to pissed. "Not funny."

1st Daisy

2nd Mario

3rd Yoshi

4th Dry Bones

5th Bowser

6th Donkey Kong

7th Peach

8th Toad

The fourth race was Rainbow Road. Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline commiserated.

Tyler smiled at their misery, although he felt it, too. This one made him dizzy. And it kinda freaked him out whenever he fell into the starry sky.

"Well this sucks." Damon said as he fell off again. His car didn't make the sharpest turns.

Jeremy was silent as he easily navigated the ups, downs, and turns while occasionally throwing false boxes and bananas behind him.

Bonnie tried to distract Jeremy by kicking him, but her plan backfired as he caught her leg under his arm and held it trapped. His concentration never faltered, even as Bonnie protested her leg's imprisonment and tried to pull free.

"Ahh!" Matt, who was in second, fell through a crack in the road. Someone had used lightning while he was jumping over it.

"Sorry, kid." Alaric piped up. But he'd been watching the screen and he'd done it on purpose. He wasn't that sorry. Now Matt was behind him, trying desperately to catch back up.

"I didn't know it was possible that rainbows could make me so mad." Bonnie said, pouting as she fell off again. Her leg was still in Jeremy's iron grip. "Do you think I could use magic to affect videogames?" She mused aloud. She set out to try and started to concentrate on the graphics. She gave herself a headache she stared so much. Probably served her right for doing it to the others earlier.

"It's because you're using the rainbow speed-ups on the ground. Sometimes they're there to trick you and make you zoom straight off the path." Elena said helpfully, right as she did the same thing. She threw her head back.

Stefan was so caught up in using his drift that he wasn't realizing that it was just throwing him off when he had to correct the over-steering problems on such a narrow road.

Caroline was flipping out on the small couch, bouncing up and down as she tried her best to not lose the race. Each time she went down she landed partially on Bonnie.

Eventually Bonnie shoved at Caroline so hard that Caroline banged into Stefan.

He fell off the road and groaned. "You cost me the race, Caroline!"

"Pssh, maybe I cost you 5th place, it's not like you were in the running for any top spots!"

He tugged on her hair and she yelped, but she kept her eyes on the road until she crossed that checkered line. Then she set about distracting him by any means necessary until she made sure he didn't come in 5th. Dirty little cheater like him didn't deserve it.

Bonnie was the last to come in. Clearly, her powers couldn't manipulate videogames. They worked better on people. She used them to make Alaric spill whisky on Damon to make herself feel better.

Neither of the guys noticed the pleased way she watched their argument as they fought over whose fault the wasted whisky was. Happy despite her loss, Bonnie turned her attention to the final race's scores.

1st Toad

2nd Dry Bones

3rd Donkey Kong

4th Peach

5th Bowser

6th Mario

7th Yoshi

8th Daisy

The last race took the longest by far. Maybe because most of them were busy failing epically. Elena was surprised at the results when they finally appeared. Her brother made first easily. It made her wonder if he'd been holding back on the other races. She asked him as much.

"Nah, I'm just used to it. Reminds me of a bad trip I had once." Jeremy said, knowing it would drive her crazy.

Elena launched at her brother and gave him a noogie. "You little brat!"

Damon had to pull her off him by her waist _and_ bribe her with final score tallies to get her to free her brother. She fell back into Damon, laughing and half sitting in his lap.

~Final Scores~

1st Mario 22

2nd Dry Bones/Birdo 21

3rd Bowser 19

4th Donkey Kong 18

5th Yoshi 17

6th TIE Peach & Daisy 14

7th Toad 11

"Fifth!" Elena slapped a hand over her face and made the Yoshi noise for failure. She felt Damon laugh next to her.

"If I'd raced the whole game, I would've had your ass, Salvatore." Tyler assured Stefan.

Stefan rolled his eyes. The one guy who probably wouldn't have cared if he lost, and he won. Gotta love life.

Damon frowned and did the math quickly in his head. "Actually, Alaric scored more than half your points." Damon came to his friend's defense. "If he'd played the whole game he could've beaten Stefan."

Tyler's mouth dropped open. He looked like he was about to protest as he tried to do the math in his head. Damon didn't know if he just let it go as he gave it up or if he couldn't do the math.

Bonnie turned to Caroline. "We need a rematch."

Caroline couldn't have been more surprised. Bonnie, out of all people. "I agree." She said, quickly agreeing. "Ties just mean there are two losers."

Everyone started clamoring in, all wanting a rematch.

Stefan graciously gave up his controller, since he already won, so that Alaric and Tyler could go against each other this time.

"And don't hold back!" Elena told Jeremy. He rolled his eyes.

Everyone's arguments broke out again when they tried to decide which course to race.

"Wait, wait!" Matt broke through the shouting matches. "Let's go random." No one was really happy with that, but they agreed to it. "And could we cut the cheating, please?" Matt asked, laughing.

Bonnie ruffled his hair. "You got it. This witch is clean from here on out." She looked at the others to agree and they all did.

Damon did so with a roll of his eyes. "As if I really need to cheat."

Elena saw the way Bonnie's eyes sharpened at Damon and she elbowed him the stomach. She fought a sigh when she felt that his abs were rock hard. Great, now she'd be thinking about that all race.

Caroline broke her train of thought. "So, what's the random generator say our first track is?" She asked.

Rainbow Road appeared on the screen.

**A/N2: I didn't even know who was going to win until I tallied it up. (1****st****=10pts, 2****nd****=8pts, 3****rd****=6, 4****th****=4, 5****th****=3, 6****th****=2, 7****th****=1, 8****th****=0) Stefan surprised me. It was fun.**

**BTW, I don't necessarily approve or disapprove of the word 'gay,' but one of the characters does use it, so I'm sorry if that offends anyone. I don't mean to at all. **

**If anyone wonders, I'd be baby Peach (she's just so annoying to my friends that I find it a hoot). Who would you guys be? Do you think the TVD characters chose the right characters in this fic?**


End file.
